Zero Returns to Compulsory Schooling in Germany: Evidence and Interpretation
49 Pages Posted: 20 Jul 2005
There are 3 versions of this paper
Zero Returns to Compulsory Schooling in Germany: Evidence and Interpretation
Zero Returns to Compulsory Schooling in Germany: Evidence and Interpretation
Zero Returns to Compulsory Schooling in Germany: Evidence and Interpretation
Date Written: July 2005
Abstract
We estimate the impact of compulsory schooling on earnings using the changes in compulsory schooling laws for secondary schools in West German states during the period from 1948 to 1970. While our research design is very similar to studies for various other countries, we find very different estimates of the returns. Most estimates in the literature indicate returns in the range of 10 to 15 percent. We find no return to compulsory schooling in Germany in terms of higher wages. We investigate whether this is due to labor market institutions or the existence of the apprenticeship training system in Germany, but find no evidence for these explanations. We conjecture that the result might be due to the fact that the basic skills most relevant for the labor market are learned earlier in Germany than in other countries.
Keywords: human capital, returns to schooling, school leaving age, ability bias
JEL Classification: I21, J24, J31
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
Do you have a job opening that you would like to promote on SSRN?
Recommended Papers
-
The Relationship between Education and Adult Mortality in the United States
-
Were Compulsory Attendance and Child Labor Laws Effective? An Analysis from 1915 to 1939
-
Does Education Improve Citizenship? Evidence from the U.S. And the U.K
By Kevin S. Milligan, Enrico Moretti, ...
-
Mass Secondary Schooling and the State
By Claudia Goldin and Lawrence F. Katz
-
Zero Returns to Compulsory Schooling in Germany: Evidence and Interpretation